A Sioux Falls mayoral candidate is taking some heat for posts on his personal social media profile that equal rights advocates say are anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim.

Mike Gunn, a retired business owner and a dark horse in the 2018 Sioux Falls mayoral race, drew attention from the nonprofit South Dakota Voices for Justice for a series of Facebook posts expressing support for tighter immigration laws and alarmism over the country's increasing Muslim population.

Mike Gunn, a Sioux Falls mayoral candidate, has shared a number of posts on his personal Facebook page that some are characterizing as anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim.(Photo: Screen grab)

"It should alarm all citizens of Sioux Falls to see that kind of propaganda being released or reposted by someone who wants to be the top-elected official for the city," said Taneeza Islam, a Sioux Falls immigration lawyer and executive director of South Dakota Voices for Justice.

Islam was specifically referring to a post shared Tuesday by Gunn from the Facebook page of Americans First, Task Force of Aberdeen SD, a self-described educational page that regularly shares memes and news stories critical of Islam.

The post in question included a story from the website JihadWatch.com stating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is tied to terrorist organizations. Similar claims have been made by Republican and conservative office seekers throughout the country who site a Center for Security Policy report linking the organization to terrorist groups in the Middle East.

But the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation, has repeatedly defended CAIR and says the Center for Security Policy is an anti-Muslim extremist group.

Another post shared by Gunn on Feb. 3 encourages his followers to report immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally.

Sioux Falls mayoral candidate Mike Gunn is drawing attention from equal rights groups for a series of posts on his personal Facebook page.(Photo: Screen grab)

Gunn, a German immigrant himself, defended the posts in a phone interview and denied being a racist or a xenophobe.

"Am I anti-immigrant or anti-Muslim? No. I'm anti-radicals," he said. "I'm all for doing things the legal way. I had to do it the right way, so I don’t see what the problem is."

Gunn said if elected mayor, he would direct the Sioux Falls Police Department to work with federal immigration authorities to ensure foreign-born residents aren't overstaying their visas or being harbored by local organizations or businesses.

But he would also welcome foreign-born residents into Sioux Falls if they're willing to embrace "the American way."

"Assimilate to our ways or, if you want it to be like your home country, then go home," Gunn said. "I don’t see why that’s a racist remark. We are the United States. There’s a difference in the name, there's a difference in the rules, and there's a difference in the way of life."